The Ballistic Missile Defense Organization (BMDO) and the U.S. Army plan to intercept a target ballistic missile in a flight test scheduled for March 29, 1999, at White Sands Missile Range (WSMR), N.M. This will be the ninth test in a series of 13 flight tests currently planned in the Program Definition and Risk Reduction phase of the Theater High Altitude Area Defense (THAAD) system.

The flight tests are intended to verify the design and performance of the prototype THAAD system components. This will be the fifth flight test in which all the THAAD prototype components will have participated.

The THAAD program is managed and funded by BMDO and executed by the Army Program Executive Office for Air and Missile Defense and the Army THAAD project manager in Huntsville, Ala. Lockheed Martin Missiles & Space is the prime contractor. The Raytheon Company builds the THAAD radar.

Unless there is a postponement, a briefing is scheduled for Monday, March 29, 1999 at 3 p.m. in the Pentagon Briefing Room, 2E781. Videotape will be available, and video of that day's test can be downlinked from a satellite feed the same day. For further information about coordinates and times, please contact Cheryl Irwin, Office of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs at 703-697-5331.

For more information on this THAAD test contact Jennifer Canaff at the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization at 703-695-8743, ext. 6122, or access the BMDO website at: www.acq.osd.mil/bmdo/bmdolink/html/tmd.html/.